20.2.07

and now for something a bit different

I just read this over on (what else?) BBC Online: "Australian anger at flag controls".

Organisers of the Big Day Out music festival have requested fans not to bring the Australian flag to the event.

This has led to controversy.

Prime Minister Howard has said that the organisers "should not ram their peculiar political views down the throats of young Australians".

The organisers are saying they do not want the Australian flag used as "gang colours" and are concerned about potential "agressive use" of the flag. They fear "racism disguised as patriotism".

Same flag, different uses and different ways of understanding its role in Australian society. But note what is not getting mention amongst all this--the organisers requested people not to bring the flag. Requested. That's all. And that becomes, in the words of the head of the state, a "peculiar political view".

"So, ultimately, in order to understand nature it may be necessary to have a deeper understanding of mathematical relationships. But the real reason is that the subject is enjoyable, and although we humans cut nature up in different ways, and we have different courses in different departments, such compartmentalization is really artificial, and we should take our intellectual pleasures where we find them."